“I think when you’ve had the year they’ve had, you’re not missing anything, to be honest,” McKenzie said. “I don’t think there’s any other way to look at it. It’s an unbelievable team. … So it’s not a matter of whistling through the graveyard and thinking it’s not going to be a tough matchup.

“It doesn’t matter who you play when only four teams make the playoffs. It’s going to be a tough matchup and at some point you play everybody or go through everybody, so that’s just the way it is. It’s exciting for us.”

Dubuque went 45-11-8 in the regular season, including a 6-1 record against the Lumberjacks. Muskegon’s lone win was a 3-2 victory on Nov. 3. The two teams haven’t faced off since January.

McKenzie is taking the approach the playoffs bring a fresh start for all eight teams that reached the postseason. Last season, the Lumberjacks finished last in the Eastern Conference, so McKenzie would rather have to deal with Dubuque than be in last season’s position.

He said the key for Muskegon is to follow the game plan. The Lumberjacks rode a solid defense and the play of goaltender Kevin Lindskoug to a strong start and finished the regular season with a 31-23-10 record. The Lumberjacks would love to start the series by stealing a game on the road.

“For us (the key) is to be consistent, play within our system and play with confidence,” McKenzie said. “When we’ve done that, we’re a tough team to play against and that’s what we want to be, that’s what we have to be, when we hit the playoffs. At the same time, we’re dealing with a team on the other side that’s had a great year and strong in every area and they’re going to come at us the same way.”

The series is a matchup of the top two goaltenders in Lindskoug and Dubuque’s Arthur Brey, who had 24 wins and a league-low 2.22 goals against average.

Dubuque allowed the fewest goals in the league and was the second-highest scoring team. Muskegon ranked second in goals allowed and 12th in goals scored.

“Dubuque is passing the puck well and playing as a team. That’s the biggest thing,” Lindskoug said. “They’re good all over the ice. It’s hard to play them. I think we can out-skill them a little bit and if we work hard enough, we might be able to beat them.”

The Fighting Saints can’t rest on their laurels. Their regular season doesn’t count for anything in the playoffs and they know the Clark Cup won’t be handed to them without a fight.

"That's the beauty of the USHL. I've been around this league long enough to know anybody can beat anybody. For everybody in the playoffs, this is hockey at its purest. If you don’t win, you go home,” said Fighting Saints associate head coach Joe Coombs, who fielded questions with head coach Jim Montgomery in Denver on Monday.

Montgomery was named the head coach of the University of Denver, but will stay on with Dubuque throughout the playoffs.

Coombs said a concern for Dubuque is the roster changes made by Muskegon because the two teams haven’t played since Jan. 25, which fell before the trade deadline.

“They’ve changed their hockey team significantly and made some good acquisitions,” Coombs said. “On film and at least on paper, they seem to have a deeper hockey team.”